July 10, 2008
Posted by yaman
Traffic and Civilization in Damascus
Since I’ve been in Damascus long enough for any American journalist to be considered an expert on the entire Middle East (exactly two weeks), I figured that it would not be too strange for me to share some of my observations on traffic in downtown Damascus.
If you’ve spent most of your life in exploitative parts of the world (Europe, America, among other places), you are sure to notice the different way traffic is done, or rather, the way it happens, in Damascus. That means there are not really ‘lanes’ in any systematic sense, and that cars are literally within centimeters of one another at any given time. There are constantly random obstacles popping up in the way in the more crowded areas, like people crossing the street or bicyclists weaving their way through traffic on the busiest streets. I doubt any still picture can really relay the fluidity of traffic in Damascus.
I’ve encountered more than one person that considers this to be a lack of “civilization,” whatever that means, and they immediately formulate a traffic “problem” that must be “fixed” by the institution of things like detailed traffic laws, lanes, a bunch of police officers giving out tickets, and “driver’s education,” which doesn’t teach you how to drive a car in traffic, but how to follow the rules while driving a car whether or not there are other cars out there.
In fact, there are very few people I’ve met who have been to Europe or America who can’t link every single frustration they have with this country towards a lack of civilizational worth. Even Damascus traffic jams can, in some way or another, be tied to a civilizational problem. These people, I assume, have never been northbound on the 405 freeway at 5pm between LA International Airport and the 101 freeway, or on the Bay Bridge trying to cross from the City to Oakland during rush hour.
Imagined civilizational quips aside (which primarily come from the bourgeoisie and upper classes who have been to those countries and believe it makes them sophisticated), where other people see nothing but chaos and disorder, I see a lot of incredibly able drivers who know how to survive on the roads without some elitist system being imposed on them. I would probably die within 5 minutes if I were to try to drive here, having been deprived of pretty much any opportunity (necessity) to know how to drive using my eyes and senses rather than relying on some fantasy that other people too should be following The Rules, and in fact that there should be a whole enterprise in place out there to ensure that they are following those rules For My Safety.
That does not mean that it would not certainly be a lot safer if there weren’t random pot holes on high-speed roads–but that is a different matter altogether, and has, if I dare say it, nothing to do with ‘civilization.’
11 Comments
July 10, 2008
Now that’s what I call a civilized approach to our traffic problem.
I agree that road conditions (pavement, sidewalks,…etc. what is called the infrastructure) should be fixed and up to level with our acquired driving skills. Yet Damascus wouldn’t be what it is if they sterilize it. Rest assured though, it’s an exercise in futility.
July 10, 2008
I think if I understood you right, one of the points you made is your disapprovement on the way people see the traffic problem as a lack of “civilization”, and i agree with you on that- I think “civilization” in this context is used in the western syntax of the word than in the local one.
Then you talked on how you see the traffic problem as drivers coming about the rules and the driving system (which is a point that discusses the “reaction” of people to the problem than the “problem” itself). and here’s where i disagree with you: i think the system in Syria (in general) is the no-system (not in the anarchic meaning of the word though ;-) and when there is one, it is on the expense of both of the drivers and the police officers -not to mention it is also on the street/road traffic. and this is not due to the lack of “civilization” of a culture or of society or any of the sort, it is part of the state’s structure itself, where a lot of its domestic policies lack tactics and strategies, that this decentralized policy is what produces such way of life that becomes a consciousness; be it in schools, universities, and the rest of Syrian institutions.
i think while i disapprove how some people look at from elitist/Western concerns, i think also we should recognize it is a problem that needs to be solved, to say it is not a problem i think it is a romantic way of seeing things hence it is also a western way of seeing it.
i think law is where we should start to solve this problem or any other problem in syria.
welcome to syria by the way :)and sorry for the long comment.
July 10, 2008
Bring on the chaos! I loved the mess, the noise and the disorder when I went there. Damascus is still free in that sense, without the imposition of some sham imported notion of ‘civilization’ that kills the spirit :-)
July 10, 2008
and why the hell does your blog always look so slick…
July 11, 2008
i once saw a baby die on a deserted road behind a cactus. it may have been in damascus. what say you
July 11, 2008
Razan, I forgot a “not” in my final sentence ;-)
July 11, 2008
oh :)
hope you’re enjoying yourself in Syria,
see you soon i hope,
July 11, 2008
The article is stark proof of despair in expecting good thing to come out of the City, the Country, and the System, and all that reflected in cover up for the problem and romanticizing it as folklore. I love to think the same with you Ayman from here from far away across the ocean. But the reality is something else. The number of Cancer cases in Damascus has been skyrocketed; the air quality is at it most worse and it is a direct cause to health problem. Actually, I discovered that the chaotic planning is gradually preventing leaving the minimal bases for support of life as we know it in that part of the world anymore. It is serious and studies need to be done to proof that if we love those left there. The recent import of Diesel green new busses is another proof that they keep missing the marks of changing direction to start cleaning the City at least by replacing the diesel buses with gasoline one, and this only apply to Damascus because of it geographic location where high western mountain prevent wind from cleaning the City.
July 11, 2008
saint, I completely agree with you that the environmental issues are important and are best dealt with systematically. I was not really addressing those issues in my post, though they are indeed relevant to traffic.
July 14, 2008
Europe? ‘Eib ‘aleik! You have never seen Piotrkowska street in downtown Åódź, Poland, ya habib. Shu akhbarak? I suppose I don’t need to ask… it’s all here.
July 22, 2008
Oh man your post reminds me of Egypt. I went there after Turkey (thinking Turkish traffic was disorganized), and was shocked. So I guess I can make a blanket statement now that Turkey is far more civilized than Syria, since we do in fact have lanes painted onto the roads (which everyone ignores).
:) Are you coming to Istanbul or what?
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